WHEN you meet Dorothy and Donald Crandell you are left in no doubt as to why the couple celebrated their golden wedding anniversary last Saturday.

They met in 1961, when they both attended a party in Sydney when Don was 18 and Dorothy 17.

He was staying with his aunty while attending the police cadets and it was love at first sight. They married 18 months later at the Sacred Heart Church in Moruya, Mr Crandell's home town.

After they were married they returned to Sydney where Mr Crandell was a police officer, but once their children started to arrive they decided it was time for a sea change and moved their young family to Kiama in 1972.

"We decided we would like to bring the kids up in the country and it was a choice between Narooma and Kiama, but in the end Kiama's closer proximity to Wollongong and a university, made the decision easy," he said.

Mr Crandell resigned from the police force and accepted a job at Boral, where he remained for the next 27 years until he retired 13 years ago.

The couple can take plenty of credit for the highly successful Kiama Junior Soccer Club.

"It was hard to get the boys into the leagues club so we contacted Illawarra Soccer and the rest is pretty much history," Mrs Crandell said.

"We started with seven teams who used to train at Bombo and play at the high school and our first 'canteen' was a card table.

"I used to spend a lot of time making cakes and toffees to sell on the day."

The couple said there was no great mystery as to why they have built such a strong marriage over 50 years which has produced four children; Michael, Ashley, Maree and Angela, as well as six grandchildren.

"We have a very similar temperament, there is lots of give and take and at times we agree to disagree," they both said.